Wonderful interview this morning and, as always, great honesty and truth in your answers. Great to hear the clips of your mother and Eilish. It brought back memories of a gig in the Sligo Park Hotel when Eilish and Peter were sitting behind us. I remember the smile on your face when you announced that you could hear her singing along. She definitely has a beautiful voice and for you to describe her as the best singer in a family full of singers is a great compliment to her. The new album is a special one and a wonderful mix of songs on it. Best of luck for the Vicar Street run and looking forward to the 2025 gigs. Best wishes to all the crew and keep doing what you do.
Christy's reply
Fair play to Oliver and his Team…they researched the archive and came up with a few gems…our Mother Nancy, our Sister Eiiish and the bould Eamon McCann trying to nail me colour to a mast….what a great leader he has been…not a title Eamon ever sought ,but he often led us to the barricade
CM just checking in…
Míle comhghairdeas faoi an album nua.
Thank you for all the work and gifting us these songs …they keep us company and comfort along the way. I really enjoyed the Oliver Callan interview this morning and the lls was lovely ..very well done.
I’m here looking out over Dún Laoghaire’s harbour playing a couple of gigs in the pavilion. Remembering the many that left on the “bád bán” across the Irish sea …thousands are sailing……
RS (25)
Christy's reply
RS (25) …good luck in the Pavilion in Dun Laoghaire…its a great venue and you are making beautiful sounds…Himself will looking down upon you (and CS) …his heart bursting with pride…. CM (79)
Hi Christy,
Great interview with Oliver Callan today
I wrote a song on a song on a song writing course with John Spillane some time ago. Someone you knew was there also.
Anyway I have the song a few years I think you might like it but I can’t see how to get it to you. Its only lying there unsung
Take care keep up the good work
John Mac.
Christy, I just listened to your interview with Oliver Callan and want to complement you on your honesty, openness and most of all AUTHENTICITY!
I also had the privilege of attending your recent gig in Bundoran and I’m still talking about it to all and sundry while attempting to listen to and actually sing your unforgettable songs!
For all of this, I thank you sincerely!
Dympna
Great listening to you Christy. Great chemistry of meaningful conversation between ye both. By any chance could you knock up a song for the youngsters to “educate” them on our 1798 – 2024 history. Similar to how you summarised your own life in “The Rose”. I might have a go at it myself but you’d make a better job for sure. It will soon be 80 years since Pa Connolly drove that Roadstone lorry into the seven springs. Mind yourself.
Christy's reply
1798-2024 Mike…I’ll get on to it straight away..gonna give Diarmuid Ferriter a shout and see would he be on for a co-write…then we’ll get it covered by Kneecap or The Merry Wallopers and get the Wolfe Tones to Mime for a Video.. Be the Holy Mike we’ll fill Croke Park like Garth the Hungry
‘The only English they speak is ‘cash only’ ‘ 😝 😝
Great interview this morning, Christy. In-depth and well researched. Lovely to hear your mammy and your sister has a beautiful voice.
And thanks for the shout out for Míceál! He’s away to Croke Park for a school trip so he’ll hear it when he gets home.
Hi Christy,
You might check out a wonderful recent Acapella Appalacian style ballad, Hollow Wood, written and performed by the Bygones. I feel it would be right up your street and if you sang it it would knock em’ out. It is on YouTube, if you are interested.
Bobby Carty
Christy's reply
great voices, great singing..but what about the words…that woman sang so beautifully… but I did not catch one line of the lyric
Hi Christy,
Loving the chats on radio right now especially reference to the 3 generations – which is us – my 93 year old mother still big fan and you sent her a lovely note for her 90th a few years back. My twin sister and niece (Ana – beeswing a favourite) who turns 20 has been gifted a ticket to your Vicar street gig on Wednesday -they are travelling over from Madrid especially – we can’t wait – let the music keep your spirts high ! Thanks for doing that for us down all the years ….
Hello Christy,
Glad you liked my Autumn brown thoughts. They came from Dylan Thomas’s words on Black at the beginning of Under Milk Wood. Loved since I first read them in my teens.
I also love Terry Pratchett’s description of a black dress
“It was black in the same way that a starling’s wing is black. It was black silk, with jet beads and sequins. It was black on holiday.”
Thinking about where I get the news from these days.
I get an email from The Irish Independent a couple of times a day. They seem to be better on UK news than the UK news people.
I also get Google on my phone to give a list of news. It shows the sources (Guardian etc…) under the headlines, so I know whether to read the articles or not. And it’s all interspersed with advice on interior design, guitars and what’s happening locally, which helps to keep me sane.
Talking of decent breakfasts, how’s about a nice omelette?
Rebecca
Christy's reply
I could’nt face into making an omelette first thing….but once a week we’ll a 6 egg out for the dinnes with potato , chorizo and and auld cheese that looks like its going off a tad
Good mojo returned from this songster…chomping porridge in a Piccadilly Station cafe,then heading to Cumbria friends.
Not only are you playing a blinder,giving a forum to songwriters,with Broomielaw,you’ve added a gem of a version to the trad archives…even Mudcats should be impressed.
I love the term,half gobshite…there are a few weapon grade eejits here. But,as you rightly say,none compares with nuclear grade,further West….which reminds me…did NATO donate the dough?!
Thanks for the well chosen Woody quote …Pastures of plenty remain an ideal…
Enjoy RTE chat and have a fab day.
Dave
Christy's reply
all go here today..but still had time to fire up a good winter stew..and theres enough for days
Christy, the new LP is getting plenty of spins.
I really enjoy Cumann na Mna.
You have certainly taken Mick Blake’s wonderful ‘symphony’ to that idiotic sky view, and made it an even greater song….if that were possible.
Well in to both you and Mick ( whose relentless historic and social commentaries are invaluable).
Rory
Heya CM,
Coming down from the mountains and over the water. Will be in attendance on the 20th.
Need some music to keep the spirits high.
Be well,
Otter
Christy's reply
I’m gonna saddle up the old grey mare
ride thru the night without a worry or a care
Hi Christy,
I do be loving hearing them On The Road
stories from back in the day. Can’t get me
head around the four of ye jumping in the
transit in Dublin, heading to Connemara,
doing two sets and then driving back home.
My other big hero Willie Nelson released
yet another new album last week.
A cover of Beck’s Lost Cause is a bit special.
There are two Tom Waits songs as well.
Just wondering if any of Tom’s tunes ever made
it to the workroom. I think you said that you
brought Shane’s Broad Majestic Shannon
down but it didn’t get out. Hard to believe his
anniversary is nearly here. Sinéad’s too.
Tabhair Aire
Bourkey
Christy's reply
Willie would me my cup of tea…Tom waits for no man…a bit out of my league…I did have a go at one of his years ago….but Shane, God Rest Him, theres a man (plus Jem Finer) who’s songs I love to sing….Brian Brannigan emerging from the shadows with great songs…the ballad boom is bubbling these days…fair play to The Clancy’s for lighting the fuse
Hi Christy,
Home and still buzzing after a second upbeat and fantastic night in HQ. Your trilogy to Wally was just special and must have meant so much to his Family in the audience.
Hope Burdocks was still open when you got there !!!
Mile Thanks.
Ride on.
Patsy
Christy's reply
Morra Patsy, the 4711ers were beaming last night, I got back to the dressing room fully spent…the feckin steam risin off me like I was after runnin in The Grand National…Paddy had a mug of strong sweet scald ready as Mick pulled the sweat laden T shirt off me (Double XL)….Peter Aiken asked me to play Croke Park , I said I would (when The Lily Whites Kildare win the Sam Maguire) home just in time to milk the cows,gather eggs, thin turnips, trim the hedges, get the turf in, haul water from the Well, pulp mangolds, shear sheep,churn butter, trim the oil lamp and keep the home fire burnin
Hi Christy, the postman’s bag was luckily filled with two beautiful CDs and a signed and soon to be framed lyrics sheet of a very meaningful song – GRMMA! That was definitely the best thing that could happen to me yesterday after the bad news from the US election. Your songs managed to brighten my mood – I really like the perfect harmonies with your son Andy! May I ask whether there is any thought of singing some songs together on stage? As you have already shown in the lockdown sessions: your voices fit perfectly together.
Birgit
Christy's reply
I looked at posters around the city yesterday…Mary Lou, Michael Martin, Simon Harris, Richard Boy-Band Barrett,Michael D, Ivana B …..then I thought of The Donald… and concluded….this is a great country in which to dwell….we don’t have anyone (yet) even slightly like Blond Don in our upper houses…one or two half gobshites no doubt but, hopefully , they’re unlikely to gain positions of power… as long as they stick to tarmac and heavy plant hire….
its impossible to even half understand Trump’s election…
the world is a more dangerous place this morning…..
God-Between-Us-And-All-Harm
Christy I’m here for the first time at one of your shows in all the years I have desired to be hear the time has finally come.Loved your hits as a youngster and the tunes continue to light me up.Best of luck tonight at Vicar Street .I’m so excited ,keep them hits rolling brother 🙏🌄💓
Christy's reply
Davey…I just loved that room last night…such a gathering of listeners….totally unique….I looked out occasionally at the array of faces….betimes the lights allows me scan the room….does this aged balladeer a world of good to see so many smiling happy visages….its a mystery how all this has sustained ..a new generation of audients has arisen in recent years….I saw songsters last night joyfully singing songs I recorded decades before they were born…the beauty and lasting power of our Folk Songs….gotta get up now and get ready to talk to Oliver Callan on RTE Radio One at 5 past 9….he likes the album and wants to shoot the breeze…I look forward to that…he has his feet firmly under the table in that slot….
That was at Glastonbury in June, but they also sang it at Roskilde, and I think nearly all of their dates this year, bless ’em. Ian has done a couple of acapella performances as well, which is quite a feat of memory alone – the first at a Góilín session in February.
Its a real shame about the BBC. They’ve been denuded by years of Tory rule, though their reporting on Palestine has been dubious for longer. They moved the excellent Orla Guerin from Jerusalem in 2005 at the behest of the Israelis, and then there was the awful decision on the Gaza appeal in 2009… and here we are again now. Radie was referencing the fact that they had cut some protests from their Glastonbury coverage the night before Lankum played.
Songwriting is something I just kind of fell into, there’s a lot of things that need to be said and Im very grateful to have such powerful voices spreading the message. There’s no song without the singing after all!
Christy's reply
Órla Guerin….Wherever Órla is today…may she be safe to continue her outstanding work…may She have peace of mind, good health and a decent breakfast
Wonderful interview this morning and, as always, great honesty and truth in your answers. Great to hear the clips of your mother and Eilish. It brought back memories of a gig in the Sligo Park Hotel when Eilish and Peter were sitting behind us. I remember the smile on your face when you announced that you could hear her singing along. She definitely has a beautiful voice and for you to describe her as the best singer in a family full of singers is a great compliment to her. The new album is a special one and a wonderful mix of songs on it. Best of luck for the Vicar Street run and looking forward to the 2025 gigs. Best wishes to all the crew and keep doing what you do.
Fair play to Oliver and his Team…they researched the archive and came up with a few gems…our Mother Nancy, our Sister Eiiish and the bould Eamon McCann trying to nail me colour to a mast….what a great leader he has been…not a title Eamon ever sought ,but he often led us to the barricade
CM just checking in…
Míle comhghairdeas faoi an album nua.
Thank you for all the work and gifting us these songs …they keep us company and comfort along the way. I really enjoyed the Oliver Callan interview this morning and the lls was lovely ..very well done.
I’m here looking out over Dún Laoghaire’s harbour playing a couple of gigs in the pavilion. Remembering the many that left on the “bád bán” across the Irish sea …thousands are sailing……
RS (25)
RS (25) …good luck in the Pavilion in Dun Laoghaire…its a great venue and you are making beautiful sounds…Himself will looking down upon you (and CS) …his heart bursting with pride…. CM (79)
Hi Christy,
Great interview with Oliver Callan today
I wrote a song on a song on a song writing course with John Spillane some time ago. Someone you knew was there also.
Anyway I have the song a few years I think you might like it but I can’t see how to get it to you. Its only lying there unsung
Take care keep up the good work
John Mac.
bang it up here and we can all have a gike at it
Christy, I just listened to your interview with Oliver Callan and want to complement you on your honesty, openness and most of all AUTHENTICITY!
I also had the privilege of attending your recent gig in Bundoran and I’m still talking about it to all and sundry while attempting to listen to and actually sing your unforgettable songs!
For all of this, I thank you sincerely!
Dympna
good on you Dympna..keep singing
Great listening to you Christy. Great chemistry of meaningful conversation between ye both. By any chance could you knock up a song for the youngsters to “educate” them on our 1798 – 2024 history. Similar to how you summarised your own life in “The Rose”. I might have a go at it myself but you’d make a better job for sure. It will soon be 80 years since Pa Connolly drove that Roadstone lorry into the seven springs. Mind yourself.
1798-2024 Mike…I’ll get on to it straight away..gonna give Diarmuid Ferriter a shout and see would he be on for a co-write…then we’ll get it covered by Kneecap or The Merry Wallopers and get the Wolfe Tones to Mime for a Video.. Be the Holy Mike we’ll fill Croke Park like Garth the Hungry
‘The only English they speak is ‘cash only’ ‘ 😝 😝
Great interview this morning, Christy. In-depth and well researched. Lovely to hear your mammy and your sister has a beautiful voice.
And thanks for the shout out for Míceál! He’s away to Croke Park for a school trip so he’ll hear it when he gets home.
good to hear from you Dearbhla
A great listen on RTÉ Radio1.. a lot of ground covered and a great flow to the chat with Oliver Callan.. mighty
great news about the Slieve Russell…new owners AND they’re keeping the gigs going…O those crystal chandeliers
Hi Christy,
You might check out a wonderful recent Acapella Appalacian style ballad, Hollow Wood, written and performed by the Bygones. I feel it would be right up your street and if you sang it it would knock em’ out. It is on YouTube, if you are interested.
Bobby Carty
great voices, great singing..but what about the words…that woman sang so beautifully… but I did not catch one line of the lyric
Hi Christy,
Loving the chats on radio right now especially reference to the 3 generations – which is us – my 93 year old mother still big fan and you sent her a lovely note for her 90th a few years back. My twin sister and niece (Ana – beeswing a favourite) who turns 20 has been gifted a ticket to your Vicar street gig on Wednesday -they are travelling over from Madrid especially – we can’t wait – let the music keep your spirts high ! Thanks for doing that for us down all the years ….
Adelante !
Hello Christy,
Glad you liked my Autumn brown thoughts. They came from Dylan Thomas’s words on Black at the beginning of Under Milk Wood. Loved since I first read them in my teens.
I also love Terry Pratchett’s description of a black dress
“It was black in the same way that a starling’s wing is black. It was black silk, with jet beads and sequins. It was black on holiday.”
Thinking about where I get the news from these days.
I get an email from The Irish Independent a couple of times a day. They seem to be better on UK news than the UK news people.
I also get Google on my phone to give a list of news. It shows the sources (Guardian etc…) under the headlines, so I know whether to read the articles or not. And it’s all interspersed with advice on interior design, guitars and what’s happening locally, which helps to keep me sane.
Talking of decent breakfasts, how’s about a nice omelette?
Rebecca
I could’nt face into making an omelette first thing….but once a week we’ll a 6 egg out for the dinnes with potato , chorizo and and auld cheese that looks like its going off a tad
Hi Christy
Good mojo returned from this songster…chomping porridge in a Piccadilly Station cafe,then heading to Cumbria friends.
Not only are you playing a blinder,giving a forum to songwriters,with Broomielaw,you’ve added a gem of a version to the trad archives…even Mudcats should be impressed.
I love the term,half gobshite…there are a few weapon grade eejits here. But,as you rightly say,none compares with nuclear grade,further West….which reminds me…did NATO donate the dough?!
Thanks for the well chosen Woody quote …Pastures of plenty remain an ideal…
Enjoy RTE chat and have a fab day.
Dave
all go here today..but still had time to fire up a good winter stew..and theres enough for days
Watching only Al Jazeera and the outstanding Channel 4 News…..others not worth their salt.
Rory
I’m watching the porridge here…
Christy, the new LP is getting plenty of spins.
I really enjoy Cumann na Mna.
You have certainly taken Mick Blake’s wonderful ‘symphony’ to that idiotic sky view, and made it an even greater song….if that were possible.
Well in to both you and Mick ( whose relentless historic and social commentaries are invaluable).
Rory
OOh Ahh Cumann na Mná
Heya CM,
Coming down from the mountains and over the water. Will be in attendance on the 20th.
Need some music to keep the spirits high.
Be well,
Otter
I’m gonna saddle up the old grey mare
ride thru the night without a worry or a care
Colorado springs to mind
Hi Christy,
I do be loving hearing them On The Road
stories from back in the day. Can’t get me
head around the four of ye jumping in the
transit in Dublin, heading to Connemara,
doing two sets and then driving back home.
My other big hero Willie Nelson released
yet another new album last week.
A cover of Beck’s Lost Cause is a bit special.
There are two Tom Waits songs as well.
Just wondering if any of Tom’s tunes ever made
it to the workroom. I think you said that you
brought Shane’s Broad Majestic Shannon
down but it didn’t get out. Hard to believe his
anniversary is nearly here. Sinéad’s too.
Tabhair Aire
Bourkey
Willie would me my cup of tea…Tom waits for no man…a bit out of my league…I did have a go at one of his years ago….but Shane, God Rest Him, theres a man (plus Jem Finer) who’s songs I love to sing….Brian Brannigan emerging from the shadows with great songs…the ballad boom is bubbling these days…fair play to The Clancy’s for lighting the fuse
Hi Christy,
Home and still buzzing after a second upbeat and fantastic night in HQ. Your trilogy to Wally was just special and must have meant so much to his Family in the audience.
Hope Burdocks was still open when you got there !!!
Mile Thanks.
Ride on.
Patsy
Morra Patsy, the 4711ers were beaming last night, I got back to the dressing room fully spent…the feckin steam risin off me like I was after runnin in The Grand National…Paddy had a mug of strong sweet scald ready as Mick pulled the sweat laden T shirt off me (Double XL)….Peter Aiken asked me to play Croke Park , I said I would (when The Lily Whites Kildare win the Sam Maguire) home just in time to milk the cows,gather eggs, thin turnips, trim the hedges, get the turf in, haul water from the Well, pulp mangolds, shear sheep,churn butter, trim the oil lamp and keep the home fire burnin
Hi Christy, the postman’s bag was luckily filled with two beautiful CDs and a signed and soon to be framed lyrics sheet of a very meaningful song – GRMMA! That was definitely the best thing that could happen to me yesterday after the bad news from the US election. Your songs managed to brighten my mood – I really like the perfect harmonies with your son Andy! May I ask whether there is any thought of singing some songs together on stage? As you have already shown in the lockdown sessions: your voices fit perfectly together.
Birgit
I looked at posters around the city yesterday…Mary Lou, Michael Martin, Simon Harris, Richard Boy-Band Barrett,Michael D, Ivana B …..then I thought of The Donald… and concluded….this is a great country in which to dwell….we don’t have anyone (yet) even slightly like Blond Don in our upper houses…one or two half gobshites no doubt but, hopefully , they’re unlikely to gain positions of power… as long as they stick to tarmac and heavy plant hire….
its impossible to even half understand Trump’s election…
the world is a more dangerous place this morning…..
God-Between-Us-And-All-Harm
Love to all You Songsters this Winter Morning
PS Davey is me name 💓
now you’re talkin…purple heart how-are-you
Christy I’m here for the first time at one of your shows in all the years I have desired to be hear the time has finally come.Loved your hits as a youngster and the tunes continue to light me up.Best of luck tonight at Vicar Street .I’m so excited ,keep them hits rolling brother 🙏🌄💓
Davey…I just loved that room last night…such a gathering of listeners….totally unique….I looked out occasionally at the array of faces….betimes the lights allows me scan the room….does this aged balladeer a world of good to see so many smiling happy visages….its a mystery how all this has sustained ..a new generation of audients has arisen in recent years….I saw songsters last night joyfully singing songs I recorded decades before they were born…the beauty and lasting power of our Folk Songs….gotta get up now and get ready to talk to Oliver Callan on RTE Radio One at 5 past 9….he likes the album and wants to shoot the breeze…I look forward to that…he has his feet firmly under the table in that slot….
That was at Glastonbury in June, but they also sang it at Roskilde, and I think nearly all of their dates this year, bless ’em. Ian has done a couple of acapella performances as well, which is quite a feat of memory alone – the first at a Góilín session in February.
Its a real shame about the BBC. They’ve been denuded by years of Tory rule, though their reporting on Palestine has been dubious for longer. They moved the excellent Orla Guerin from Jerusalem in 2005 at the behest of the Israelis, and then there was the awful decision on the Gaza appeal in 2009… and here we are again now. Radie was referencing the fact that they had cut some protests from their Glastonbury coverage the night before Lankum played.
Songwriting is something I just kind of fell into, there’s a lot of things that need to be said and Im very grateful to have such powerful voices spreading the message. There’s no song without the singing after all!
Órla Guerin….Wherever Órla is today…may she be safe to continue her outstanding work…may She have peace of mind, good health and a decent breakfast